Grasshopper Snatch The Pebble From My Hand or Do You Have The Patience To Wait For The Consumer?

Grasshopper Snatch The Pebble From My Hand or Do You Have The Patience To Wait For The Consumer?

I won't claim to be some super blogging kung fu master. Persistent, yes, but a guru...no I won't make that claim. I don't have the SEO chops (yet), I don't have a Wordpress blog (yet), there are a lot of things I still have to learn to make this whole blogging thing work optimally.

Ultimately we're here to learn AND increase to our business. That's the bottom line for each of us, or we wouldn't be shelling out the $39.99 a month and countless hours invested.

Don't get me wrong, we've SERIOUSLY enjoyed all the fun we have here, the friendships we've made (some day we'll be knocking on some of your doors in person instead of just digitally), the referrals we'll get and give when the planets align and the buyer or seller is going to or coming from the right place to match one of our AR Friends.

So the question is for each of us is, do we have the PATIENCE it takes to get to where we want to be? Would every new Active Rainer be happy to know that it will be quite a few months (or longer) before the consumer finds them? We're continually advising our clients they have two main choices, price or time, what's the most important to them? We as bloggers work with the same constraints.

But with blogging, we have a different pedal to push if we want to accelerate the process. LOCAL POSTS. I wouldn't call it a mistake per se that initially we were mostly blogging to the Active Rain community. That time frame helped us develop our blogging voice, develop relationships that we value immensely. Nor will we stop blogging to the AR community, adding our two cents, our advice, our cheerleading, but we do need to adjust our mix. We need to do MORE Local posts.

If we want consumer business (and who doesn't??), well frankly they'll NEVER care how many points we have, how many Called Shots, Featured Posts or other AR milestones we've hit. They won't care if we posted five posts or 5,000.

There's only ONE thing that matters to them...did we provide the information that they the consumer wanted? And the local posts ARE what the consumer wants.... how to buy or sell a home in their area, what local developments are like, what are sales doing, the local events, the local places...that's what THEY want.

So if patience isn't your strong suit, you want the pebbles in your hand NOW...then shift your mix Grasshopper. Hit the LOCAL, hit it often, hit it well with relevant content and THEN the pay checks from blogging will come to you quicker!

Keep on Blogging,Liz & Bill aka BLiz

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REALTORS(S) Serving Warren County Ohio & Adjacent Areas

The Liz Spear Team of RE/MAX Elite Elizabeth & William Spear Ask for us by name if you visit the office! Two locations: Lebanon & Mason, OHDirect: 513-520-5305 Direct #2: 513-265-3004 Fax: 866-302-8418 MailTo: LizSpear@Go-Concepts.com Our Website: www.LizTour.com

It is a very true statement that it takes time. Many REALTORS are what we call High I's...they want it now and they like shiney things and move quickly from one tactic to another....blogging will not work for them. I took a blogging course (with the mindset that I already knew what I was doing, I was on AR!). And that course changed my world. I picked my key terms and linked to them until I was blue in the face...8 months of blogging localism on my outside blog every 4th day...(easy peasy for you guys...once every 4 days!!) and then I hit page one, a few more months and results.
It depends on what your key words are...if it is Cincinnati...will take longer. I did Fishers over Indianapolis and it took less time.
You have what it takes, I've seen it in your posts...stay the course.
Cindy in Indy (rooting you on!)

Could you guys be any more right? Patience not being my strong suit, I struggle with this. And then BL gets all zen on me. "They will call, we just have to be sure they think of us. And the best way to do that is to keep giving them what they want."

Consumers care about the local market, local events, local businesses, LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL! And if that's what they want, then by gosh we're going to give it to them!

Steve, You of all people saying that is like Brer Rabbit saying don't throw me in the briar patch :)

Cindy, Did a double take at the new profile pic! Part of the reason I wrote the post was to address those that take a short stab at it and quit. It's going to take persistence, but they can cut months off the time to return their investment if they focus locally much faster than we did. Ironic in a way to use a non Local post to say write Local :) Cincinnati won't be our key...too big an area, lots of embedded agents and a bit of a drive for us. Warren County has been our focus so far, but I think we're going to have be even more specific and just go after two or three of the major towns in our county to get the desired response. We'll get there, and thanks for the vote of confidence!

I see CA has already been here -- I'm a bit slow today -- yesterday, too! Agree with you fully!!! It's all about getting your name in front of those who are looking at local events, therefore, properties.

Cinnamon, I think you and BL have been on the mark...it's we that have not stayed properly focused :) Your posts have been either very Local oriented, or open letters to buyers and sellers as to how you can help. They will come to you two! And then someday, Zoe can inherit the real estate kingdom that you will have established :)

It won't be Zoe -- it'll be my niece, Rachel. Zoe couldn't care less about real estate, but Rachel has a special jacket she wears when she goes to work with Mimi, and she loves to go on showings! If she hears us talking about a new listing she'll start asking, "how many bedrooms, baths, fenced yard, formal dining room?" She's a trip!

Bill/Liz...Going local is where it's at. I changed my AR strategy about 6 weeks ago and have posted almost exclusively local posts since then with fantastic success (in my opinion) as a direct result of those posts (1 closing, 2 listings, 2 more early 2011 buyers). Be persistent, stay focused, and concentrate on a specific region/area/subdivision and the results will come.

BLiz - I've taken the same path as you ... I've blogged here to build AR relationships more than bring in business. I've loved every minute of it, but I need to start focusing on my community. Wishing you the besssssst of luck!

So, so true! I really enjoy posting to the AR community and reading & commenting - but so far the local community posts are the very best at bringing me really, truly, actual business. (Not that I plan to stop any of it, but yes focus on local is important)

Ssssssynthia, We're learning as we go, and we still want to have the fun, but the extra business is critical if we want to keep having fun. That said, we learn enough here every month to more than justify the monthly fee even if we never got a closing out of this!

Nancy, We're still looking for that first actual client as a result of this work. We're getting some consumer contacts, but it's about our posts, NOT about actually selling or buying a house.

BLiz - NOW YOU'VE GOT IT GRASSHOPPER!!! I've known for a long time that all the silly AR stuff (points, rankings, features, etc...) doesn't mean anything to consumers and prospects. Most consumers and prospects couldn't care less about this stuff.
This is exactly why I try and focus on hyper-local posts as much as I can. Yes, I throw in some silly picture posts occasionally but I really try and focus on stuff in my local market. Most of the consumers and prospects that contact me tell me this is why they contacted me.

Super smart strategy shift. Yes, it does take patience and persistence and blogging for your customer will take you where you need to be. While I have been doing my local hardwood posts I really need to need to get on the band wagon and do more hyper local, too.

Donne, We've recognized for some time many of our posts are of no use to the consumer, just for our own fun and that of fellow AR members, e.g. any Miss Bad Manners Members Only posts. We'll still want to do some level of those just for fun or to support the AR Community overall. We're still going to want to be competitive with ourselves and others here (we hit 4 of our 5 Called Shots yesterday) and keep moving up the point totals, but those are primarily just evidence that we are blogging daily, etc. The biggest obstacle right now if having adequate pictures/graphics that fit the theme of the posts.

Debbie, I'd have thought your posts were already locally focused enough to find the consumer. I'd be doubtful that many (if any) of your competitors are blogging to the same extent as you.

BDAMB, If you look at our postings since this one, we've shifted hard to the Local posts. We'll continue to adjust the mix as we need to, and we still want to do some Active Rain Members Only type stuff, but a more local focus to get business was needed. We'll continue to evolve :)

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